Heiji Hattori's Wild West
by Zana Charleson
Summary: Heiji becomes the star of a western setting, and wishes to be the hero of a town, he is welcomed with little to no reaction from the townspeople, however our hero Heiji will fix that! Rated T for alcohol use. Minor HxK and SxR
1. Chapter 1

**Warning, this story was made for one purpose only… to have a western in the vicinity of Detective Conan. Idiotic I know, and ironic. I mean come on, it's a WESTERN! Yep, that's why I'm doing this, be prepared!**

Across the desert of New Mexico you can see the lonely prints of a single soul and his horse (or at least what can be presumed as a horse), the lazy shadows of the earth in the morning painting a canvas of yellows and purples across the landscape. Shadows stitched across the mesas, the ranger has appeared, his shadow portraying the very essence of manliness. The sand of the desert kicks up against his animal's heels, creating small clouds of dust in the early morning. Upon the creature is a tall, dark-skinned man, scars cascading across his face and hands portraying untold stories, undoubtedly of his manly acts.

Moving forward, the man and his steed edge forward and see a small village in a vividly colored canyon, purples and blues coating not only the canyon but the town within its premises. The hero of our story, decided upon this small town to be the one in which he would settle, and bless with his presence of manliness. He approached the mouth of the town and canyon, looking around to scope out the area.

"Yes, indeed this will be the place." He said to himself. He centered himself squarely in front of the mouth of the town so all inhabitants could see him, and that he would indeed be these poor creatures savior. He was doing them a favor by gracing them with his presence.

Whispers were heard of, "Who is this man?" and "Where is he from?" Finally a small boy spoke up from amongst the whisperings, asking the inevitable question a young boy would ask of a manly hero.

"What are you riding?" The young boy questioned.

As if shot through the heart he stumbled backwards, "Why would you EVER ask such a question!" He yelled at the boy. "Cannot you see that this is a Japanese Serow! Only the finest of men receive one of these from overseas!"

"Sure looks like it doesn't fit you much." The boy persisted. Silly boy, doubting our fair (and manly) hero!

"I am taken aback! Emperor Saki is a perfect size for me, a genuine steed!" Our hero retorted. The ill-advised child rolled his eyes and simply walked back into the crowd. Everyone visible in the town then went back to their work, paying no mind the crusader who stood in their mist.

"Don't you want to know who I am? Since after all I DO have this narrator!" He yelled_. Hey, wait! Don't break the fourth wall (in a manly fashion)!_

"I can if I want, I'm the hero!" _Whatever. Continuing on_, the people of the town turned to him and asked his name, after all, they could sense he would be around a while.

"Heiji Hattori, greatest cowboy in the west!" The people who had given him a little bit of the benefit of the doubt, returned to their work, feeling that their obligation to be friendly had been fulfilled.

Our dark-skinned hero looked about the small town in hopes to find one of two things, a Sheriff's office or a bar. Finding the latter first, he brushed off his dirtied boots and made his way across the street to "One-Eyed Pete's Bar" conveniently located but a few buildings down from where he stood.

He stepped onto the front porch of the building; the walls were obviously in poor condition, roughly patched in spots that had clearly come from previous bar fights. He stretched forward a hand to push open the roughened door from many years of use.

As he walked in all eyes were on him, just the way he liked it. He scanned the room for an empty seat, finding one at a table with rough-and-tumble guys. Upon reaching the table the guys scooted chairs, blocking Heiji from entering that chair. Now Heiji was not about to give up sitting at this table, he was after all Heiji Hattori! The son of a great crime fighter.

He proceeded to the other side of the table where there was still an empty chair, resulting from the earlier shuffling of seats. Beginning to lower himself into the chair a large man sat, narrowly missing sitting on him. "Hey!" He yelled, "What were ya thinking, almost sitting on me!" The man who had sat down once again rose up to his full height, a full three heads or more, higher than our hero.

"Something you need to say to me?" He asked, cracking his burly hands to express his willingness to fight.

"Yes!" his hot-blooded temperament swinging into full throttle. Heiji snapped, a single light shining upon him, adding drama to the scene. "Let's be settilin' this old fashioned way…" He then did some fancy foot work, in a sort of tap-dance routine. "Through dance!"

The burly man grabbed his collar, "Let's not." He said, heightening his fist above the strong-willed Heiji. The spotlight disappeared from around him with a loud snap as if a light switch was being turned off. Smoke and dust started barreling in from under the door, a bar fight was about to begin and Heiji could feel it.

As if magnetized, everyone in the bar's head turned towards an unknown source, and silence filled the area. Loud sounds of stepping filled the room as a stunning woman appeared in lovely saloon garb, a violet feather perched in her dark hair, piled in a curled up-do. Her hands were on her hips and a familiar accent came out of her mouth. "Just what do ya think yer doin'? Ya don't really think you'll be gettin' away with a fight in this here bar do ya?" The burly man promptly dropped him (being Heiji), backing away. "good, now it's best ya be a' skirtin' away." She said, flicking her wrist at the ruffians.

She then proceed to link arms with our protagonist, and pull him out of the saloon. Many "Oohs!" were heard as they go out under the patio of the saloon. "What are ya tryin' to do, tanglin' with Bethany!" Heiji then began to laugh.

"His name's Bethany!" He then laughed harder. "What kinda name is that?" She then proceeded to firmly whack him on the head.

"Are ya tryin' to make enemies of the people here?"

"Nah, the names jus' hilarious!" She raised her fist above his head, getting ready to give another lump if need be. He promptly stopped. He then and there decided to let her talk.

"Now, I heard yer name's Heiji Hattori, I know you think yer big stuff, but I'm gunna tell you right now, this town WILL change yer opinion. You'll fall in love with this town, and people here are never what they seem. I recommend y'all learn to be humble real quick or y'all be learnin' it the hard way."

"Ma lady," Heiji bowed to the young lady of about 18, "I am but yer humble servant." He then kissed her hand, and rose.

A frying was pulled out of mid-air, as if by magic, "Now get the heck outta my bar or you'll be havein' a 'technical' relationship with this here fryin' pan." She patted the skillet lovingly. Heiji simply stared.

"Yer givin' me advice then ya chase me off, threaten' me with your fryin' pan if I come back. What ARE ya thinkin' woman!" He then turned to walk off the porch. Suddenly a strong force attacked his side, grabbing his arm. He was about to give whatever had latched onto his arm a good talking to but found it to be the bar maid. She then gingerly gave him a kiss on the cheek, causing him to blush. Though he was a solid gold (and manly) hero, he had never been kissed by a (a womanly) lady. All others had been frightened by his tough exterior, she saw through him. This was a terrifying thought to Heiji.

"What's yer name miss?" He asked.

"Kazuha, and that's what you'll call me, er else." She shook her pan, then smiled.

"Man," Heiji said to himself "Girls er confusin.'" With that he walked out of the saloon's vicinity and went down to the sheriff's office.

Heiji stood in front of the Sheriff's office, sensing something was off. As he stood closer to the office, he smelt an unmistakable smell, beer. Why was that smell, of all the smells coming from the Sheriff's office of all places? The heels of his boots clicked against the wood on the patio as he pushed open the door to the office being hit with the smell of alcohol. "Ew! Did I mistake this place fer the bar?" Heiji announced as he walked in.

A man who wore a over-sized cowboy hat sat in an old chair, reading the local news and circling in red who was due to win the tortoise races on Sunday. The area was littered with alcoholic beverages of all kinds across the room. He looked up at the presence of another human in the room. "What do YOU want?" he asked.

"Um, I…"

"If you're lookin' to find the local criminals, go back there and ask assistant deputy Shinichi."

"Okay…" Heiji said as he backed off toward the room the very drunk Sheriff had pointed to. As he walked towards to room a gorgeous girl of about 18 walked past him, brushing against his 'fancy' cowboy suit. She was decked out in a light blue dress, she looked like the daughter of a wealthy land owner, but he knew it wasn't so.

"Oh! Pardon me!" She squeaked as she headed into the room the sheriff was in. Heiji paused and turned around to see what she would do next.

She scanned the room and firmly planted her hands on her hips, something was going down and Heiji looked on in eager anticipation.

"Dad! What on this planet happened! I leave for a measly 2 minutes and you trash the joint!"

"But Ran! I jus drank a lil hick."

"Yes, well your very appalling presence and VERY red face tell me otherwise, your drunk and you know it! Last time you did this you needed to go out to investigate a cattle ranch problem and you were drunk as a stump, poor Shinichi had to brand you to get you out of your state!"

"Yea, and I still have a red mark…" He said rubbing his bum.

"You DESERVED it! Now go sleep it off in your room, I'll bring you a bucket for when you get your hangover." She lifted him out of her seat and put his arm around her shoulder balancing his full bodyweight on her shoulder. She turned to the current spectator of Heiji. "Sorry you had to see that, my father is quite a quack of a sheriff, spending all of our money gambling and for alcohol. Shinichi's around back, I think he's reading. If I could trouble you with a little more?" She asked looking directly at Heiji and rebalancing her father on her shoulders.

"Sure." He said in his manliest voice, trying to sound, shall we say handsome?

"Tell Shinichi supper will be done in a few minutes and there's apple pie, I know it's his favorite. So make sure he knows, it might motivate him to be on time. Ever the mystery fanatic." She sighed in frustration and then proceeded to lug her father to his room.

Stepping outside he looked around to see a lanky, yet handsome young man kicking a ball in all kinds of ways he never would have dreamed a ball could be kicked. Over his head and under, up, down, and even rolling it in all sort of weird directions.

"Hey!" He called to who was presumably Shinichi. He stopped kicking the foot ball and headed over to where she stood. He was ruddy and panting from his previous workout. His hair bounced as he ran over to Heiji to greet him. His presence reeked of optimism and it annoyed Heiji to think how he would talk and act.

"Hey there," He said gripping Heiji in a firm handshake and grinned a boyish grin. He was crushing his had as if he was in a hand wrestling competition only he knew about. He finally let go a few seconds later. "Name's Shinichi Kudo, nicknames Jimmy but Lord knows why they gave me that nickname!" He laughed a hearty laugh. "What are you doin' around these neck of the woods, you wouldn't happen to be um…" He paused for a moment, "Heiji Hattori now would you?

"The one and only!" Heiji said, positively beaming. "Finally," He thought to himself "some one remembers my name."

"Well, I welcome you to the town, but I bet cha that you weren't welcomed very warmly. Don't blame the towns people, their just apathetic towards new comers, you see for some reason every new comer to this town gets carried off by bandits, not sure why though." He scratched the back of his scalp. "I've been researching for the longest time but whenever they appear a shootout occurs between me and them, someone usually ends up dead." He frowned. "Those poor souls," He said to himself. "Anyway, it's been my goal to bring them down, fortunately we've got an inside gal, a sister of one of the past members of our town who went to the big city to look for better education. She should be sending us a report any day now!"

"I won't be carried off!" Heiji said persistently. "Cause I'm…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know the _manly_ Heiji Hattori. Bottom line you're new, will you be bait for the bandits?"

"Um, well I'd prefer to help you solve this problem…"

"Well that will be just dandy, say, do have any, you know, abilities?" He asked, his hand on his shoulder, pressuring him for an answer.

"I can use a sword pretty well…"

"Fantastic, now, I believe Ran will be calling us for some supper, sure hope she doesn't decide to make that corn chowder again. I love her food but after a week it gets old."

"She said for me to mention that she baked an apple pie." Heiji said.

He paused for a moment as a grin spread across his face. "She remembered! Oh man I love that woman!" Heiji just looked at him questioningly.

"We made a deal that if her father could go without drinking for a week I would have to make a meal, but if he gave in and drank some of that awful liquor she would make me an Apple pie. Guess he gave in, he was soo close too! Tomorrow she would have won." He turned to Heiji, "Would you like to join us?"

"Well I don't want to intrude…"

"Oh it's no big deal, Ran loves company!" He beamed, as he showed Heiji into the house. As Heiji sat down next to Shinichi, Kazuha from the bar appeared. She looked stunned then recovered her cool demeanor.

"How did you end up here?" She asked, being careful not to make eye contact.

"I was talking to Shinichi and he invited me for supper. You?"

"I eat dinner at the Mori's every Tuesday, it's just my normal routine, guess I showed up on the right night." She laughed. "Apple pie!"

"You can thank me for that." Shinichi boasted.

"Hey, watch it! Next time the stakes will be higher and I'll win!" She called from the kitchen as she carried out a large hot bowl of chili.

"Okay," Shinichi said, "what's the bargain this time?"

Ran sat down and pondered a moment. "If you bring down the bandit's this next time, you have to… propose to me!"

"Hey isn't that a loose - loose for me!"

"Yes… fine if you don't, you do, and if you do, you don't." She replied.

"Now wait, wait," Heiji said putting his hands up in a 'I surrender' pose, "What's this about proposals?"

Ran and Shinichi were oddly silent as a blush ran across both of their faces. Kazuha spoke up for them. "They've been friends since childhood and seems how they're both 18, their marryin' age. However, their both too shy about each other to have anyone make a move. Ran's been very open about it, but since she's the girl she can't do anything."

"It's a deal!" Shinichi said. And so the wager was set in place and dinner progress with friendly chatter, carefully avoiding the subject of their deal, all getting ready for tomorrow's untold events that would inevitably roll the dice of fate, and cast a lot, most everyone involved would hate.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hola! I know I haven't updated this story in forever (or written anything in forever for that matter) but here is the conclusion to Heiji's western story. You can thank my creative writing teacher because I had to write a short story and didn't have much time sooo, I finished Heiji's story. I hope you'll find it entertaining. **

The next morning Heiji woke up in, unfortunately, the place he fell asleep. He stretched his arms and legs out and rubbed his sore back from sleeping against the wall of the sheriff's office. He stood up and walked, albeit groggily, over to the horse trough and rinsed his face, making sure not to think of the fact this was an animal drinking trough.

He dried his dampened face with his shirt sleeve suddenly noticing the commotion right behind him. He turned and looked at the large crowd that he had previously heard. He started towards the crowd and punched his way through, finding in the middle of the circle a small note that seemed to have a small drawing of a face with a top hat on it grinning as if it knew something he didn't. Next to the offending pictures was the cursive writing that read

I will be taking someone soon, enjoy!

Everyone in the town knew right away it was their town kidnapper, the one who would take newcomers to the town. There were whispered comments of how it was about time he showed up and how it was obviously going to the 'the newcomer' who would be taken.

Heiji grinned to himself as he wondered how he would defeat this fiend. He looked to the side as Sheriff Shinichi walked in circles, his thumb to his chin as he muttered unintelligible phrases about cabbages. Dust kicked up from behind the young sheriff as his trench from the circle became deeper. Heiji, being the annoyance he was, came up to Shinichi and grabbed both of his soldiers to keep him from digging a ditch to China.

"Are we going to work on this solution together or not?" He asked.

Shinichi instantly backed up the moment Heiji came near him. Heiji gave him a wired look and cocked his head sideways.

"Your breath is terrible!" Heiji looked offended as he continued to ask the same question again.

"So what is the plan Mr. Sheriff?"

"I'm happy to cooperate with you but do something about that morning breath! He pinched his nose and retreated into the sheriff's office. He breathed into his hand and sniffed. His head jerked backward, he definitely needed to fix that and headed off toward the bar.

He pushed open the old doors and walked inside and pounded on the counter two times and sucked in his lips. The bartender seemed to get it and handed him a few mints. He dropped two of them into his mouth and walked out the door. He sucked on the mints as he walked across the street towards the Sheriff's office. Then as he was in the middle of the street a man in a white top hat, cape and monocle appeared from nowhere.

Directly in front of him stood a man about his height, reached out and put a cloth over his face, he tried to fight the guy off with his sword fighting ability but blacked out, and fell asleep.

Heiji woke up blurry-eyed, and looked around seeing nothing but darkness. He tried to move is hands but he could feel his hands pull against rope. He suddenly became aware of his feet asleep and his bagged situation.

He tried to look through the tiny holes of the bag attempting to access where he was but instead he only saw little stars from looking out the holes too long. Suddenly the bag was lifted from his head and his eyes had to adjust to the new stream of light. There, standing before him was a highly anti-climactic sight of a 17 or 18 year old boy with very messy hair. His eyes gleamed with mischief and boyish glee. Behind him stood a smallish girl with light brown equally messy hair.

"Do you think he is worth anything?" The girl asked looking suspiciously at Heiji. "He looks like an egotist who no one likes." She squinted at him and made a face, sticking her tongue out at him.

"He must be worth something… geeze he is a human."

"I dunno, he seems like a loner, I mean look at his attire, and his breath is pretty awful."

"Oh shush." He said as he walked around Heiji and began to untie his hands. "Oh wait, if I unbind you do promise to not run off, because that would ruin the fun and I would have to set the hounds after you."

"But there's nothing around here! Were in the middle of a desert! Don't you see the plateaus? " Heiji yelped.

"You don't know what I got." The young man said indignantly.

"But there is nothing out here cept' us!" Heiji yelled, which gave off an echo.

The boy shrugged, "I guess you proved your point. Now, you gunna run or not?"

"Fine, I won't run." Heiji sighed.

"Good." He continued to untie the ropes around our hero's legs and wrists. Finally the last of the strands was untied and the bag discarded to the side. Heiji stood up and dusted himself off. To the side stood the young man and the girl. He boy out of the pair shoved his hand out to Heiji.

"The names Kaito, and this here suspicious one is Aoko. Now don't run off or she'll come after you!" He laughed a glorious boyish laugh. He looked at the girl named Aoko, she sure didn't look like much, he could easily out run her he thought. However the law abiding manly hero in him said not to run and to find out more about the curious duo.

"Now what are we doing round here? " Heiji asked.

"Well naturally were going to the hideout but then you had to go and ruin the fun by waking up, it would have been more fun to find yourself in a cave instead of in the desert no?" Kaito practically gleamed with pleasure.

"It wouldn't a been fun for me." Heiji muttered. At this Kaito and Aoko laughed uproariously. He then felt a sharp pain in his neck as the lights suddenly went out around him for the second time that day.

Heiji awoke in a small cave that was barely lit but with many noises surrounding him. He craned his neck, he squinted his eyes, he tried, oh he tried to see. A hand pushed hard on his back as he fell face forward into the ground. Dust blew up around his face as he coughed and hacked from the inhalation of the dust. He heard laughter from all around, feeling oddly helpless.

A single light appeared in the center of the room. This light gave vague outlines of the area in which he was being heald in. He saw outlines of wooden cart boxes stacked upon each other and dark holes which he presumed were tunnels leading to other parts of the underground holding device. His head tilted upwards to look above him.

"I see your admiring my underground fortress!" A booming voice said from behind him. Having his hands bound and legs tied, he squirmed around in a wormlike movement to see who was speaking, it was none other than Kaito and his lady friend Aoko hanging all over him. Suddenly, he became aware of the people surrounding that he now saw instead of hearing. There were people of all ages surrounding him. Some old, some young, some teenagers. For once in his life Heiji was feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time, fear. He was afraid of where he was, that he was bound, that he had no idea where he was.

He shifted a bit from his ground ward position to get into a more comfortable one, as he tilted to the side looking straight into the beautiful face of Kazuha. Thousands of thoughts floated past his mind 'Why is she here, what happened, why is she asleep…'Her hair messily placed on the ground that still retained it's beautiful color and it smelled, he noticed, like the air around him suddenly became sweeter.

"I see your admiring your lady friend; you should thank me for including her in this escapade!" A sinister cackle resounded off the underground walls. He reached up and pulled on a closely dangling chord. He gave it a tug as the entire area lit up with a burning light that made him blink fiercely against the new lighting.

From behind him a pair of strong hands grabbed his wrists; he instantly pulled back as he felt a swift knife cut the bonds of his hands. The man dropped him to the ground face first, his hands not able to catch himself from hitting the ground. His feet were similarly unbounded as he slowly rolled across the ground moving his wrists around slowly, testing them out for strength.

A groan leaked out from the girl next to him as she began to wake up. Her bindings had already been removed while she was asleep. He hands moved in slow lazy circles in front of her, the corners of her eyes wincing at each circle. She suddenly looked up around at the room, her pupils tightening as he examined her surroundings. Heiji stood up slowly, making sure his feet would support him as he stood up one foot at a time.

Kazuha turned and looked at Heiji as she instantly forced herself backwards, madly scrambling backwards from him. He eyes panicked. Has her head bobbed back and forth looking between Heiji and the new surroundings she found herself in. Kaito chuckled darkly from behind her which sent her rocketing towards Heiji, the only familiar figure nearby, her arms automatically clutching around his arm.

Kaito eased himself down onto a wooden crate and studied the two who were now closer than before.

"Relax sweetheart, I'm not going to hurt you."

"You're that phantom bandit!" She yelled. The crowd chuckled at her statement.

"Aww, you have found the secret out, it's a pity, it's more fun when the girl is rather stupid. She shrieks, thinking she can be heard from down here and panics and usually starts to cry, you my lady are no fun at all." His eyes gleamed chaotically. Heiji new his type of eyes, the ones that were plagued by sorrow and pain, the type he saw similarly in his lady friend Aoko's eyes. Something beyond them had caused this situation.

"Now that you know my little secret, let me tell you why you are here. I kidnap new comers to the town of Appaloosa Valley for very specific reasons. So that anyone who comes to the town will never have to endure what I have had to." Emotion momentarily filled his azure eyes. "What happened is what you will have to find out," his heels lifted up creating perfect about-face as he stalked off, Aoko trailing behind him as they entered the mouth of a nearby cave.

Kazuha turned to Heiji , her lips pursed keeping back any show of emotion, she was after all a strong girl. "Since you're the only one I know in here we need to find a way out." She looked to the side as a girl of about five stuck her head in between the close proximity Heiji and Kazuha shared.

An elderly woman approached the two from behind and began to stare at them. "Ahh!" They both screamed as she grinned a big grin marked by a loss of teeth. She giggled and then trotted off leaving the two in absolute silence and solitude. They looked at each other, then at the floor. A loud crash vibrated off the walls making them both jump again toward each other. Suddenly even more light entered into the underground chamber. Feet walked down a plank first boots, then tucked in khaki pants covered in dirt, huge belt buckle, plaid shirt, hands tucked into pockets, and finally a head. He looked around the place a whistled a loud whistle.

"Sure is fancy." a familiar voice with a country twang said as he looked directly at them. He began to laugh at the scene, clutching his stomach as he leaned over laughing. His hand began to point at the two of them who looked at each other. Heiji stood as Kazuha practically climbed up on top of him, her knee resting on his belt and the hands madly clutching at the top of his head.

She blushed profusely and climbed off him and landed on the ground with a quiet thump. "You can stop now!" Heiji yelled at Shinichi who was still laughing hysterically. From the hole in the roof, the head of Ran popped into the opening as she looked curiously around the room.

"Say, did you happen to see a teenager with really messed up hair who likes to laugh at other people's misery around here?" Shinichi asked after his laughing finally receded. He wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

"Yeah," Heiji said as he pointed with his thumbs towards the tunnel he had just entered. "That-away."

Shinichi half jogged half ran towards the tunnel. A Few minutes' later crashes were heard and yelling ensued. Hearing all the commotion, Heiji and Kazuha ran towards the noise as they looked around the corner, stopping from their jog. They didn't rush in to help, they just began to watch.

"Kaito, why did you go and kidnap our barmaid and the egotist cowboy?" Shinichi asked.

"You know as well as I do." He grinned as he moved ever so slightly to the side. Shinichi kicked a medium sized rock towards him with quite a great bit of force. "Still have as killer a kick as usual." He chuckled.

"Cut the chit-chat, you really shouldn't be involving innocents with your problems with the town." The bandits face grew somber.

"How much do you know?" He asked.

"I know that you have been taking these innocent people from the town because you were rejected by the town after your Father died and your Mother abandoned you."

"Yes, but you're missing a crucial piece of incriminating evidence…"

"The fact that you lead this life because you were forced by your late father, and that this is all a charade simply so you can fulfill your father's dying wish that you will catch the criminals that caused his death thus secluding you to a life of thievery and loneliness." He took in deep breaths from the accidental run on sentence he had caused and looked up at Kaito. "Am I right?"

Heiji looked between the two during their discussion seeing how similar the two really were in looks, personality in a way too, cocky. Heiji chucked to himself, was he like that? He silently smiled knowing the answer and mentally told himself to check himself next time he felt like going on an ego trip.

Kazuha moved slightly beside him, noticing that he was being squished up against the wall of the cave, 'she must be very uncomfortable' Heiji thought to himself as he moved slightly over. Suddenly his foot began to slip and fell once again onto the ground that he had been laying on an awful lot lately. Shinichi promptly turned around, just as he turned an eruption of white smoke appeared, enveloped the cave for a few second and then disappeared, along with it Kaito.

Shinichi was visibly frustrated at the disappearance of Kaito as he kicked the ground that puffed dust into the air creating a rather large dust cloud. Heiji got up and dusted himself off a bit and then turned to Kazuha whose mouth was still gaping from Heiji's lack of heroic gesture as he fell. Heiji laughed lightly and rubbed the back of his head and smiled. Kazuha smiled back as he quickly grabbed Heiji's hand and pulled him out of the tunnel. Kazuha giggled as she heard Shinichi yell various words not to be uttered here. She smiled girlishly as the finally arrived at the mouth of the cave. She paused a moment and then pulled Heiji up the stairs and out into the sun of the New Mexico desert.

As they reached the top of the tunnel they looked around them as the glowing sunset painted the mesas around them. The scene was beautiful and made the air just cool enough to be a pleasant and rare moment of near perfection.

Heiji squeezed her hand and walked over to the horses that stood waiting near a grove of light green cacti. "Say Kazuha, what caused ya to suddenly be so nice to be?"

"Simple, I couldn't take my eyes off ya from the moment ya walked into this here part of town, or rather where we were, here is just the middle of the desert." She laughed lightly

"So it was just a physical attraction?"

She paused a moment from his blatant remark, he needed to get a better grip on what was socially acceptable.

"No, I learned that yer personality is decent enough." She looked at the ground as Heiji beamed. She looked up, "what are ya so cheery about?"

"Nobody ever says such nice things about me!" He looked like he was wagging his theoretical tail.

"It wasn't that great a statement." She mumbled.

He grinned a big boyish grin, his whole demeanor seemingly changing. "Your amazing Kazuha." He jumped on one of the horses and let his hand down from the top of the horse and pulled her up after she took his hand. They rode around a bit waiting until Shinichi, along with Ran finally reappeared. He didn't look at the two of them or what they were doing as Ran tried to talk to him; he simply headed straight for his horse. He looked like a man condemned. That's when the thought hit him, and Heiji began to laugh… loudly.

Kazuha covered her ears and silently wonder what could have possibly stuck him as so funny. After the laughing subsided Kazuha turned to him, "What was that all about?"

Heiji looked around the area seeing Shinichi off in the distance who seemed to be talking, lamenting really, to his horse. "Shinichi has to marry Ran." He grinned with great fervor as Kazuha too began to laugh; the horse whinnied in complaint as the laughing came to a rest.

Kazuha wrapped her arms around Heiji's middle as the directed the horse to follow Shinichi. From up ahead a loud groan erupted from Shinichi as Kazuha and Heiji laughed once again as they road into the Arizona Sunset.


End file.
